Michigan 79, Illinois 69 POSTGAME

#52      

Deleted member 746094

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How did Castleton look?

Looking at the box score, their bench or lack there of should be a major concern as they get deep into the tourney. They basically ran with a 6 man rotation. From my perspective it is more about foul trouble than talent as their first 6 looked pretty capable of sharing the 40 minutes. However, if they have a few guys pick up 2 or 3 fouls it could stretch them thin. I think they will still be tough to beat though.
 
#53      

Deleted member 29907

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Looking at the box score, their bench or lack there of should be a major concern as they get deep into the tourney. They basically ran with a 6 man rotation. From my perspective it is more about foul trouble than talent as their first 6 looked pretty capable of sharing the 40 minutes. However, if they have a few guys pick up 2 or 3 fouls it could stretch them thin. I think they will still be tough to beat though.
They have alot of weapons - but i thought I heard the announcer say they've been at home for a month prior to our game - must be nice.
 
#54      
My concern about our team is development of talent. I'm seeing guys getting worse, not better.

Kipper, Damonte, Frazier, Aaron Jordan have all lost their confidence. Motivate, give a hug, kick in the !!!, whatever it takes,
but coach 'em up. A little better shooting and a few less turnovers and we have a great chance to knock off the #2 team in
the county.
 
#55      
My concern about our team is development of talent. I'm seeing guys getting worse, not better.

Kipper, Damonte, Frazier, Aaron Jordan have all lost their confidence. Motivate, give a hug, kick in the !!!, whatever it takes,
but coach 'em up. A little better shooting and a few less turnovers and we have a great chance to knock off the #2 team in
the county.

Not so sure I'm seeing much output (zero 3's & ppg less than 3 in BIG play) from the Nation's #1 JUCO PG. And that's from a guy who is the self proclaimed president of the Feliz fan club. Certainly not much upgrade from TJL if any.
 
#56      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/col...cle_f6f1c146-3298-5db3-9249-19d086ea9f59.html


I respect AJ as being a loyal Illini who represents the UI well off the court but his abilities do NOT warrant being a starter or the amount of minutes he gets on the court,,,He seems to be a model person and his parents should be very proud of him but he continually loses his man on defense and contributes little once conference play begins....0 pts against NU and 3 against scUM are not worthy of a starting position with a team in need of athletic players on the court....Since he is making freshman mistakes as a senior why not give more minutes to AG and TJ making the same mistakes but learning from them gaining valuable experience for the future...Is BU able to see what many of us see or is he TOO loyal to a senior that offers little in respect to winning a game this far into the season...

Once again, I respect AJ and all the hard work he has put in regarding his time at UI, but isn't it about TIME to give AG and TJ a chance to see if they can improve on the numbers AJ is putting up now ?
 
#57      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
To me it's clear that the team struggles to execute the system more often than not. It's not that they aren't improving individually. When they are executing within the sets and on defense, the team can play with anyone. They've proven that several times this year.

However, time and again, there is a 10+ minute stretch...usually in the second half...where the team falls into individuals trying to create their own shot or pushing too hard. Some of those attempts we saw against scUM last night were just comically awful. They clench up at the FT line. They are anxious, tired of losing, pressing too hard, and young, which equals several minutes of undisciplined play every game.

The cohesion and execution of the game plan has to be 40 minutes before this team will threaten good teams.
 
#59      
Have to disagree on DMW, he has been more aggressive offensively of late. Kipper has had some nice assists, but rarely shoots. Last year he had a few games where he scored a bunch, and more where he has nil impact. Can't recall him scoring much in any game this year, or at least against anyone decent. Trent is hopefully only in a funk. If we can get Trent and Ayo rolling together, that would be great. Jordan would be coming off the bench likely on any other team in the BIG. Don't know that Jordan had any confidence to lose against good competition. I am sure BU is good at the kick in the !!!

Yes we did not get crushed. But you can't truly evaluate the motivation of the competition when they had the lead the entire game, and the closest I think we got was 4, and I think that was in the first half. We were not a disaster last night, but 4-12, 0-5 is what it is.

Kofi gives me hope, unclear why the #32 recruit in the country is underrecruited. Glad we have him. Hopefully FL Atl is the nadir. Hard for the graph to get any lower at this point.

Ayo Geogi and Trent should be a good foundation. Between Kofi, Samba and January we will have size, and hopefully these guys will be coached up quickly. If one of the freshman wings can emerge, perhaps we can be bubblish next year.

Go Illini!
 
#61      

Deleted member 29907

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Guest
To me it's clear that the team struggles to execute the system more often than not. It's not that they aren't improving individually. When they are executing within the sets and on defense, the team can play with anyone. They've proven that several times this year.

However, time and again, there is a 10+ minute stretch...usually in the second half...where the team falls into individuals trying to create their own shot or pushing too hard. Some of those attempts we saw against scUM last night were just comically awful. They clench up at the FT line. They are anxious, tired of losing, pressing too hard, and young, which equals several minutes of undisciplined play every game.

The cohesion and execution of the game plan has to be 40 minutes before this team will threaten good teams.
The frustrating part is you can see many glimpses of it working. But too many silly mistakes (e.g. stepping into the lane too early on a missed FT???, 6 shot clock violations???)

Other than Ayo, Giorgi, Alan, DMW, and maybe a few others - everyone does look tight (we desperately need a win to change the mood) and its clearly affecting Trent.
 
#62      

haasi

New York
Not so sure I'm seeing much output (zero 3's & ppg less than 3 in BIG play) from the Nation's #1 JUCO PG. And that's from a guy who is the self proclaimed president of the Feliz fan club. Certainly not much upgrade from TJL if any.
TJL was pretty effective, just couldn’t shoot. Valuable piece IMO. Feliz not doing much.
 
#64      
We're 4-12 and you're over here talking about having too many quality players.
How about a shooter that can drain the 3 ball consistently to space the floor and make the defense get out of the lane? Could be really helpful once we have 4 big guys (Giorgi, Samba, Kofi, January),
 
#65      
The box score gives a pretty clear picture of the game IMO. In the offensive zone we were playing essentially 3 on five on our end of the court. Our three best folks played to the level we need them to be (GB, TF, AD) and the rest were simply on the court. That's not to say they didn't contribute in some way, but we need another player offensively to push us over the top. As I watched the game I had the distinct impression that the only players really looking for a shot were those three. They shot well over 50% (21 for 37, 56.7%) as a group, while the entire rest of the team went 8 for 24 (33.33%). And that doesn't take into account the 57% at the charity stripe (4 of 7).

Raftery mentioned KN's proclivity to disappear for large stretches of time, and while he contributed 9 points, I really hope he steps up to his significant potential. He can be the fourth piece we need offensively . . .

That's a very good Michigan team (almost makes me throw up in my own mouth to say that) and we played them mostly head to head the entire night. I ike the trajectory I'm seeing with the team, even if we're not seeing the results that we want to see in our Orange and Blue stupor. I enjoy watching the team and its' progression, and I think I'll enjoy it even more next year.
:chief::hailtotheorange::chief:
 
#67      
how can the most athletic player we have who has supposively has had great practices NOT GET ON THE COURT
Have you watched him actually play? If you did, you probably wouldn't be asking this question, unless your reasoning for playing him is that this seasons lost and nothing will fix it so lets just play the freshman, which I think it a bad take, but I know others agree with it.
 
#69      
Honestly, that is Griffin. And they aren't utilizing him correctly.
I have to believe Griffin just isn’t ready yet based on his lack of playing time. I was thinking last night about how much we’ve been relying on underclasman and how hard that makes winning. To go back a few years, there was a huge difference between freshman Brandon Paul and Junior Brandon Paul. Even good recruits need time to adjust to the college game and our lack of upper classman is probably making that very difficult.
 
#70      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
That hand-off play needs to be buried! Have no idea what it accomplishes. Only seen it produce a couple times all year, once when Kane turned went to rim and dunked against UNLV. I have seen multiple offensive fouls on our guy handing off and turnovers, because of a botched hand-off. Little out of control on offensive end in second half at times. I thought they played hard, though.
And yet it seems like every game one of the announcers touts that play like it's the greatest ever, so hard to defend, blah blah blah. Agree with you completely. It seems to subtract much more often than it adds. I will say that Giorgi has gotten much better about protecting the ball during the handoff but I'm all for getting rid of that play.
 
#71      

illiniCA

DC Area
I have to believe Griffin just isn’t ready yet based on his lack of playing time. I was thinking last night about how much we’ve been relying on underclasman and how hard that makes winning. To go back a few years, there was a huge difference between freshman Brandon Paul and Junior Brandon Paul. Even good recruits need time to adjust to the college game and our lack of upper classman is probably making that very difficult.

I completely agree with this. Especially when it comes to team defense.
 
#72      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
Because Griffin relies on the system to get his open looks...and we have too many guys trying to create their own shot rather than getting open looks within the sets.
Until they learn how to move the ball within the system consistently, shooters like AJ and AG aren't going to get open looks very often. We keep going back to the pinch post hand off and back door lobs over and over. Way too predictable.
 
#73      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
The hand off is fine when it is one of several options. Right now we seem to have three options: pinch post hand off, back door lob/cuts, create your own sandwich.
 
#74      

Deleted member 4960

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Guest
There’s a lot of whining about our offense considering last night we outscored them in 2 point and three point baskets! where we lost the game was at the free-throw line.